Missing woman Shania Twain tweeted about now accused of faking it all

Well here’s a bizarre story to start your Thursday off right. A Shania Twain fan’s disappearance back in June, which Shania Twain herself tweeted about, has turned out to be fake, fake, fake (allegedly).

In June, New Yorker (and Shania Twain super fan) Rachael Mattice, 24, “disappeared” from her family’s campsite in the Adirondack Mountains. Before her disappearance, Mattice texted her mom, “I’m at the bottom of the hill. Goodnight and I love you,” before she lost cell service. Her family later found her vehicle with its doors open and her purse and phone inside, sparking a desperate search for the young woman.

At one point, Rachael’s best friend made a plea to Shania Twain to see if she could send a message to the missing woman.

“You are Rachael’s favorite country artist,” the friend posted to Instagram. “Her parents use [sic] to call her Shania when she was little because she would sing your music all the time. … I’m reaching out to you in hopes that you can make one of Rachael’s dreams come true by sending a message out to her.”

Shania came through and on June 30 sent out two tweets to the woman.

I’ve heard the story of Rachael Mattice & urge anyone with information to come forward to the police & help her return to her family. (1/2)

Two weeks, an extensive search, one candlelight vigil, 400 leads followed by officers, thousands of man hours, and a $100,000 price tag later, and Mattice turned herself into police. She claimed that a mysterious bearded man had kidnapped, assaulted, and kept her locked in a shed. He then, according to her report, released her near her parents’ New York home.

Police became suspicious when hospital records indicated she hadn’t been assaulted and witnesses came forward saying they had given Mattice a ride to another campsite after her supposed abduction. During a press conference at the end of July, police announced that the bearded man they were searching for didn’t exist and that “nothing Mattice said happened. It’s all made-up.”

Rachael ended up being arrested and was charged with falsely reporting an abduction, a misdemeanor. She pleaded not guilty in court on August 9.

Believe it or not, that’s not the end of the story. At the time of her disappearance, Mattice was under investigation for allegedly stealing prescription drugs from her employer. Police believe this may have been what caused her to fake her disappearance. On Tuesday, she appeared in court, charged with one count of Petit Larceny. Her trial is scheduled for November.

But wait, there’s more! In a separate odd but related story, two of Mattice’s friends have now been arrested for attempting to help police locate their friend (while she was still believed to be kidnapped) by throwing a smoke bomb into a house.

Yeah.

According to police, James Gasiewski, 30, and Jacob Eggleston, 31, believed wrongly that Rachael was being held in a home in Caroga, New York after getting false information from social media. Rather than just calling police, the two allegedly tossed a lit “smoke-producing device” through a window. They then called 911 and reported that the house was on fire.

Their hope, apparently, was that police and/or firefighters would find their friend inside. Instead, it was found that the house was empty. The smoke bomb was put out and police arrested the well-meaning criminal masterminds. Gasiewski was charged with fourth-degree reckless endangerment of property and criminal mischief, and Eggleston was booked on sixth-degree conspiracy charges.

About The Author

Hey, I'm Shannon and I'm the founder and Queen Bee of this crazy place we call NashvilleGab. A few things about me - I'm pretty much a nerd, I'm obsessive about weird things, I suck at selfies, and I tend to make corny jokes that only truly awesome people will appreciate. A little known fact about me is that I once showed up in the background of a television news story carrying a basket of dirty laundry. Yep, true story.